Microsoft Excel: Discover New Functions Using The fx Button

Problem: There are hundreds of functions available in Excel. You know that you want to find a function for a geometric mean but have no clue which function might do this

Strategy: As shown in Fig. 333, next to the formula bar, there is an ƒx button. Choose this button to bring up the Insert Function Wizard.

The Insert Function dialog lists the most recently used functions by default. All of Excel’s functions are categorized into areas such as Financial, Date & Time, Math & Trig, Statistical, Lookup & Reference, Database, Text, Logical, Information, and Engineering. If you can guess that the geometric mean function would be in the Statistical category, select this category from the dropdown, as shown in Fig. 334.

Additional Information: Selecting Statistical provides you with over 100 choices. To narrow the choices down, type geometric mean in the search box and choose Go. This will result in one possible choice, as shown in Fig. 335.

Summary: Use the ƒx button to help find a function.

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